Saturated hydraulic conductivity of compacted steel slag-bentonite mixtures——A potential hydraulic barrier material of landfill cover
2022
Zhan, L.T. | Ni, J.Q. | Feng, S. | Kong, L.G. | Feng, T.
The feasibility of using steel slag and bentonite mixtures to construct the hydraulic barrier of a landfill cover was explored in the present study. Fine-grained steel slag (SS; particle diameter < 1 mm) and sodium-activated calcium bentonite (SACB) were used to prepare compacted specimens, and the saturated hydraulic conductivity (kₛ) was measured using a flexible-wall permeameter. Influential factors including SACB content (BC), SS gradation, water-washing treatment of SS and compaction water content (ωcₒₘₚ) were investigated. The hydraulic conductivity results were interpreted in microscopic scale through mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that when BC was below 10%, the kₛ value of the specimens prepared with well graded SS was about one order of magnitude lower than that of the specimens prepared with poorly graded SS. This was due to less macropores caused by better SS gradation. Yet, the effects of SS gradation on kₛ diminished as BC further increased to 15%, suggesting the dominant role of BC on kₛ at high BC. Water-washing treatment of SS helped reduce kₛ significantly to 1.2 × 10⁻¹⁰ m/s at BC of 10%, owing to less multivalent cations and hence lower osmotic swelling reduction caused by cations. Controlling ωcₒₘₚ 1–2% wetter than the optimum water content (ωₒₚₜ) also helped reduce kₛ significantly, owing to the reduction of macropores. Accordingly, it is suggested to use well-graded SS mixed with 10% SACB and then compact at ωcₒₘₚ slightly wetter than ωₒₚₜ to the degree of compaction greater than 90% in engineering practice.
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